The must-play action-adventure games of 2025 are dynamic, unique masterclasses. Different genres of games serve a wide range of purposes to the discerning player. When I’m playing a grand strategy title, I’m ensconced in a virtual library, breathing in the scents of mahogany, tobacco and leather.
Year in Review 2025
(Image credit: Future)
GamesRadar+ presents Year in Review: The Best of 2025, our coverage of all the unforgettable games, movies, TV, hardware, and comics released during the last 12 months. Throughout December, we’re looking back at the very best of 2025, so be sure to check in across the month for new lists, interviews, features, and retrospectives as we guide you through the best the past year had to offer.
When I play a game like The Return of the Obra Dinn, you might as well give me a meerschaum. But when elements of the best action games find confluence with the sense of exploration governing the best adventure games, something magical happens. Enter: the action-adventure. This genre is all about getting into a spirit of mad excitement and at the same time, unraveling a plot that keeps you engaged until the final reveal.
It’s a broad church. There’s been a ton of action-adventures from this year that have hit all these notes, but ultimately, we’ve got to whittle this down to a top five; the truly peerless titles. Whatever kind of action-adventure antics you love, whether whimsical or dramatic, there’s something here that you’ll love.
(Image credit: Konami)
Developer: Konami Platform(s): PC, PS5, Xbox Series X
One of only two games that I know of that actually uses a Greek delta in its title, the other being the excellent ΔV: Rings of Saturn, MGS Delta feels like coming home. For those who have been under a cardboard box for the last 20 years, Metal Gear Solid 3 is widely regarded as the best in a brilliant series, and it’s easy to see why. The game’s pristine Cold War vibes, survival elements, and an iconic range of enemies make it an absolute classic, and Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater is the best way to play it.
It is a rigid remake, but a stunning one, bringing out the beauty of the jungle like never before. Whether you’re returning to Snake Eater as a practiced veteran of European Extreme or want to take on the Cobra Unit for the first time, you’ll find the vicious brutality of the jungle exciting, engaging, and cinematic.
4. Ninja Gaiden 4
(Image credit: Xbox Game Studios, Team Ninja, Platinum Games)
Developer: Team Ninja, Platinum Games Platform(s): PC, PS5, Xbox Series X
It’s kind of hard to believe that until this year, it had been a long 13 years since the last Ninja Gaiden game, and nearly 18 since the last one that you’d actually want to play. What a joy it is, then, that Ninja Gaiden 4 is a breath of fresh air for the franchise, picking up from the second game and running with it. Ryu Hayabusa, the long-time protagonist of the series, is joined by a new ninja, Yakumo, who comes equipped with extremely strong blood powers.
This isn’t the only way it truly feels like an evolution for the series, either. Team Ninja being joined by PlatinumGames means that, as Oscar Taylor-Kent said in his review, it “can feel as much a successor to Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance as it is a perfect passing of the torch forward for Ninja Gaiden.” A sensational game that helped breathe life back into a franchise that had lost its way.
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3. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
(Image credit: MachineGames)
Developer: MachineGames Platform(s): PC, PS5, Xbox Series X
In true Indy fashion, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle has broken into the treasure vault of this top five list by dint of its PS5 debut in April, five months after its Xbox and PC launch. If you’ve yet to check out this game, you’re in for an absolute treat. Indiana Jones games have been few and far between, despite the franchise’s legendary status, and the Great Circle feels like an extremely fitting instalment. Complete with Nazi fighting, treasure hunting and whipcracking, it feels truer to the franchise than the last two films have, that’s for sure.
Coming to us from Wolfenstein veterans, MachineGames, gunplay takes a backseat, as brawls are the order of the day. It’s perhaps the most straightforwardly adventuresome game on this list, and one that you’ll be able to pick up relatively cheaply in upcoming sales, so make sure to keep your eyes peeled!
2. Hollow Knight: Silksong
(Image credit: Team Cherry)
Developer: Team Cherry Platform(s): PC, Switch, Switch 2, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X, Xbox One
Few indie games can reach the level of anticipation that Hollow Knight Silksong garnered, and fewer still are able to make good on all that hype. Silksong, the long-awaited sequel to 2017’s Hollow Knight, is bigger, tougher, and more colorful than its predecessor. Players step into the shoes (wings?) of Hornet, as we traverse Pharloom, where cute bugs become not so cute thanks to a silken plague called the Haunting.
Acrobatic and intense gameplay lets you take down even the toughest bosses, though, if you’re like me (i.e., fairly mediocre at it), some bosses will require a whole fistful of tries. It’s varied, too, with each environment boasting its own sets of challenges. Silksong is a rare example of a game that managed to well and truly live up to its hype.
1. Donkey Kong Bananza
(Image credit: Nintendo)
Developer: Nintendo Platform(s): Nintendo Switch 2
The Switch 2’s launch line-up wasn’t particularly spectacular, but one month later, this absolute bundle of joy was released, and we’ve been enjoying it ever since. The first Nintendo-developed DK game since Jungle Beat, Donkey Kong Bananza does for the big ape what Super Mario Odyssey did for Mario way back in 2017, and unleashes him in a sandbox with added destructibility.
It’s great fun to smash your way through Bananza’s world, and its strong variety helps keep the game fresh through to the end. Aside from this big attraction, Donkey Kong can also transform into a variety of different forms to solve puzzles and platforming challenges. The Switch 2’s current killer app, Bananza is a deserved winner of this category, and a game that ought to be played by every Nintendo fan around.
Amazon Prime provides a lot of valuable benefits to its members, but the company’s registration practices for its premium subscription from 2019 to 2025 led to many customers accidentally subscribing to a service they didn’t want.
Amazon is now paying the price for that deception — the US Federal Trade Commission levied a massive $2.5 billion settlement on the company for its subscription tactics.
The majority of the settlement — $1.5 billion — has been earmarked to refund eligible subscribers, with the rest serving as a civil penalty. Amazon is also now legally required to provide a clear, obvious option to decline Prime, making it as easy to leave the service as it is to join.
Amazon isn’t admitting to shady behavior. “Amazon and our executives have always followed the law, and this settlement allows us to move forward and focus on innovating for customers,” Mark Blafkin, Amazon senior manager, said in a statement. “We work incredibly hard to make it clear and simple for customers to both sign up or cancel their Prime membership, and to offer substantial value for our many millions of loyal Prime members around the world.”
The online retail giant started sending out payments to eligible people in November and was supposed to conclude its initial automatic payments today, Dec. 24. Read on to learn more about Amazon’s settlement and what to do if you think you’re eligible for compensation but didn’t receive a payment.
“Specifically, Amazon used manipulative, coercive or deceptive user-interface designs known as ‘dark patterns’ to trick consumers into enrolling in automatically renewing Prime subscriptions,” the FTC complaint stated.
Who’s eligible for Amazon’s payout?
Amazon’s legal settlement is limited to customers who enrolled in Amazon Prime between June 23, 2019, and June 23, 2025. It’s also restricted to customers who subscribed to Prime using a “challenged enrollment flow” or who enrolled in Prime through any method but were unsuccessful in canceling their memberships.
The FTC called out specific enrollment pages, including Prime Video enrollment, the Universal Prime Decision page, the Shipping Option Select page and the Single Page Checkout. To qualify for a payout, claimants must also not have used more than 10 Amazon Prime benefits in any 12-month period.
Customers who signed up via those challenged processes and did not use more than three Prime benefits within one year will be paid automatically by Amazon within 90 days. Other eligible Amazon customers will need to file a claim, and Amazon is required to send notices to those people within 30 days of making its automatic payments.
If you are eligible for the automatic payment, you should have received an email from Amazon by today explaining how to claim the money. You can be paid via PayPal or Venmo. If you prefer a paper check, don’t accept the digital payment. The FTC says Amazon will mail you a check that you must cash within 60 days.
How big will the Amazon payments be?
Payouts to eligible Amazon claimants will be limited to a maximum of $51. That amount could be reduced depending on the number of Amazon Prime benefits you used while subscribed to the service. Those benefits include free two-day shipping, watching shows or movies on Prime Video or Whole Foods grocery discounts.
Customers who qualify for the payments should have received them from Nov. 12 to Dec. 24, 2025. If you are eligible for compensation from Amazon but didn’t receive a payout, you’ll need to file a claim after Amazon starts the claim process. The FTC says it will update its Amazon settlement site once that process has begun.
Customers who did not use a challenged sign-up process but instead were unable to cancel their Prime memberships will also need to file claims for payment.
Looking for an injection mold designer or a CAD pro who speaks fluent “DfM” (Design for Manufacturing) without breaking into a nervous sweat at the sight of complex geometries? You’re in the right place. The hunt for top-tier design talent doesn’t have to feel like sifting through a hardware store’s junk bin. In fact, with the right platforms, it can be almost fun to design for manufacturing firms.
Say hello to Cad Crowd, the brain trust community on which pre-screened engineers and mold design experts meet to turn your best product concepts into producible realities. But Cad Crowd is not the only game in town. From specialty sites to industry leaders of freelancing, we’ve dug high and low to find the 31 best sites to hire injection mold designers and DfM engineers so you can pick the right pro without pulling your hair out (or your CAD files in half).
Cad Crowd
Ever wanted to say, “I’d like to call up a genius CAD wizard without too much looking until forever,” Cad Crowd is kinda your fairy godfather in shades. This site hand-selects capable designers who get injection molds the way baristas get their espresso shots. Silky-smooth prototypes, hardcore design-for-manufacturing solutions, or whatever design crisis you’re experiencing—Cad Crowd connects you with talent faster than you can say “draft angle.” It’s not your ordinary run-of-the-mill freelancer bog; it’s a real VIP club where CAD junkies gather, use their brain muscles, and turn your plastic dreams into production-ready reality.
Guru has a wizardly mountain sage-sounding name to it, and honestly, it kinda is, but with incantations substituted by bringing you into contact with engineers, CAD designers, and manufacturing whisperers. With its enormous talent pool of freelancers, you can have someone who is not only an expert in CAD but also your wallet and your all-nighter-with-coffee design tweaks. Guru’s smart “Work Rooms” organize all about projects so you’re not swimming in email threads or sticky notes. You post an ad, get proposals, and voilà, your guru arrives. Need an injection mold sorcerer or a DfM guru (pun entirely intended)? Your stand-alone fortune cookie, this website is.
Picture this: a fantastic lab full of PhDs, engineers, and experts where their coffee breaks are filled with flinging around buzzwords such as “finite element analysis.” That is Kolabtree in a nutshell. It’s not a website; it’s more like LinkedIn and Hogwarts had a baby, and the baby turned out to be CAD crazy. CAD design companies looking to hire mold designers and DfM engineers can post openings, then relax while experts come rolling in with answers that sound both smart and slightly scary. But they are nice nerds, so calm down. Whatever it takes to reshapen your CAD model or stress-analyze your injection mold design, Kolabtree is basically where freelancing and science swipe right.
It’s as if eBay and LinkedIn had a love child that went in the direction of manufacturing-addicted, and that would be MFG.com. It’s not your typical gig marketplace but rather a maker match-maker. You post up your part specs, and manufacturers (real shops with real equipment and some ambition and oil) queue up to quote. Best when you already have a CAD design and are ready to go, but need a factory-side collaborator who won’t ghost after the initial email is sent. Everything from injection mold wizards to production full-blown wizards, MFG.com is manufacturing Tinder without the cheesy bios. Swipe right on productivity, swipe left on delays.
Thumbtack is sort of like the contemporary community bulletin board, except instead of guitar teachers and babysitters, you will find professionals to accomplish pretty much anything, including product and CAD design. Here is how it works: it flips the script around: you define what you require, and pros reach out to you. It’s great for last-minute matches, but the trade-off is that even if you do pick up a diamond who’s had some CAD or engineering work under their belt, Thumbtack is not necessarily trained for injection molding expertise. It’s more local-service-oriented, more generalist. Great if you need someone to repair your sink, but not the most brilliant bulb in the box when it comes to creating things.
Toptal actually boasts that it can find the crème de la crème somewhere out there, which more or less means that only the top 3% make it through their gladiator-like vetting process. Looking for a CAD or injection mold engineer who’s not just “good enough,” but someone who’ll put your old designer to shame and make him seem like he’s doodling with crayons? Toptal’s got your back. Their candidate pool is screened so thoroughly that it’s like getting hired by the CIA, but with additional AutoCAD tests and fewer lie detectors. It costs more than the bargain-basement sites, but every now and then, you require champagne talent, not gas-station cola. Think of Toptal as the velvet rope club for engineering brilliance.
LinkedIn is not simply for humblebrag promotion announcements or motivational quotes that you’ve already found on Instagram. Nope, it’s also where you might, might possibly be able to find a real injection mold designer or DfM engineer without ever having to leave your corporate bubble. The Services Marketplace is speed dating for professionals, but instead of awkward small talk, you get to see their credentials, contacts, and probably a selfie with a 3D printer. Want to sneak a peek at their work history before you hire? Be my guest, it’s pretty much an invitation here. In the event of a need for brains, badges, and backgrounds all rolled into one scroll, LinkedIn’s Marketplace makes talent-seeking weirdly social.
Bark is basically the community of freelancers’ version of the dating app, but with less dinner rejection and more CAD proposals. You tell them what you have to, “injection mold designer capable of tolerating my coffee-fueled ramblin’,” and Bark goes fetch for you. It’s fast, it’s simple, and it’s got the bright “we’ll find them for you” feel, so you don’t feel like screaming into the wind. The icing on the cake? Designers are vying for your attention and not vice versa. It’s being the cool kid at school again, except all the designers are trying to help you get your product out on the road. Everyone wins.
Thomasnet is literally the Yellow Pages for manufacturing, but they aren’t greasy from pizza, and your cat hasn’t chewed off the corners. It’s opening up a treasure chest of injection mold specialists and CAD-competent partners with more than half a million listed manufacturers and suppliers. Instead of losing hours of time navigating Google rabbit holes, you can focus on experts who understand the difference between a parting line and a cooling line. One mold run or high-volume production? Thomasnet has the Rolodex to enable it. It’s your own little fast manufacturing bible with none of the snooze parts.
Zintro is more of an intellectual cocktail party, and everyone in the room is an expert in their area, and you are simply the guy with the mic. Stick your project up and say, “I need a CAD engineer to create injection molds which will be works of art,” and sit back and see consultants, freelancers, and gurus put their name in the ring. It’s not actually about the freelance business and all that, but it’s more about top-of-the-line expertise, so don’t be surprised to not hear people speaking as if they came up with thermoplastics themselves. It’s a specialist field, it’s a bit geeky, and it’s guaranteed to be where you end up when you need information that isn’t on YouTube how-to videos.
Catalant is a behind-the-scenes treasure trove of corporate talent, with an army of experts, engineering design experts, and consultants sitting in wait, itching for a good, gnarly challenge to sink their teeth into. Imagine a “talent think tank on tap.” Want a DfM engineer to de-spaghetti your ridiculously complicated CAD drawing? Catalant probably has five in their sleep before they’ve had their second cup. It’s for businesses that want freelancers but not just any freelancers – they want real strategic partners. The vibe? Fewer “bargain basement gig spots” and more “execs brainstorming over lattes.” High-level injection mold specialists without rummaging through random bulletin boards? Catalant is your VIP pass.
Expert360 is basically the Aussie cousin who shows up to the party with brains, charisma, and a Rolodex of absolutely smart professionals. This platform matches businesses and freelancers who actually have a clue about what they are discussing, like injection mold designers who can define tolerance stacks without yawning in your face. Instead of sifting through a hundred “meh” profiles, Expert360 makes sure you are working with someone who thinks CAD is their second language. It’s not so elementary as your average gig website, and companies use it when they need it yesterday. Short and sweet: Expert360 is LinkedIn after three flat whites of quick, sharp, and slick.
Coroflot is where creativity has its rugged motorcycle parked and tosses you a helmet. This site has been around since the beginning of time, low-key pairing designers with employers looking for real talent. Even with its pro-industrial and product design bias, you’ll find CAD experts and mold masters who will transform your lump of plastic into production-perfection. The mood is edgy but authentic, think more “design studio hip” than “gig marketplace madness.” Listings on the site are geared toward designers who don’t cringe at both sketchpads and SolidWorks. If you require your injection mold designer to have just the perfect dash of panache, Coroflot is your stylish sidekick.
Core77 is the cool table of industrial design, and its job board is where you’ll find some of the world’s top CAD and DfM talent. It’s not your average “anyone can join” site. Nope, this is where companies go when they want designers who’ve been sketching products since kindergarten. Need someone to perfect a mold draft or refine your 3D model? Post here, and you’ll attract creatives who treat geometry like poetry. The crowd leans design-first, so you’ll get pros who make functionality look good. Basically, it’s where art and engineering sneak out for coffee together.
Behance is like Instagram for creatives, except instead of brunch photos, you’ll find jaw-dropping portfolios that make CAD models look like fine art. Though everyone assumes it’s a hotbed of graphic design, industrial design experts and engineers get to flex their technical muscles here as well. Need to see inside the head of a mold designer prior to considering hiring them? Scroll through their portfolio, and it’s all there, glistening renders and all. The atmosphere is halfway gallery, halfway talent scout heaven. If you’ve ever wished job hunting could feel like wandering through an art museum (but with more blueprints), Behance is your happy place.
Dribbble is what designers do when they decide portfolios need to be as habit-forming as junk food. It’s largely UX/UI and brand frippery, but industrial designers creep in here too, sharing lush renders, exploded views, and CAD glamour shots that make fillets coquettish. You don’t straight-hire off a “buy now” button; you prospect, short-list, and slide into DMs or pin up a vacancy. The plus: you have a taste level in an instant. The good: it’s not injection-molding Ground Zero, so you’ll need to dig for people who can spring from pretty pictures to DfM realities draft angles, ribs, bosses, gates, the whole nine. Come for inspiration; take away prospects willing to deliver.
Indeed is the Costco of job boards, huge, with plenty of choices, and sometimes maddening, but always a blessing when you’re looking for something. Looking for an injection mold designer or CAD DfM engineer? Type it into the search engine, and you’ll get more resumes to shake a caliper at. Sure, you might need to weed through a few “close but not quite” prospects, but gems are abundant. And their resume database lets you track down and research prospective candidates before extending an invitation to the party. Picture Indeed as your giant net in the sea of engineering ability. Just watch out for seaweed.
ZipRecruiter is basically the over-eager friend who is just itching to present you to all his/her friends. You post a job, and boom, it gets shotgunned all over the internet faster than an aunt’s email thread. Need a DfM engineer to make your CAD files shine like diamonds? ZipRecruiter attempts to place your job listing in front of the right peepers. The “AI match” is a match algorithm, sending applicants your way while you drink coffee. Job spam, complain some; hiring miracle, say others. Either way, however, it’s shouting your engineering needs from a megaphone, and for some reason or other, the right ears catch it.
Glassdoor: the site where interviewees peer behind the curtain, and businesses anxiously hope that their previous employees didn’t annihilate them too mercilessly. Aside from the company feedback and pay rumormongering angles, though, it’s also a fairly decent job posting venue. Need an injection molding service that is familiar with their shrinkage ratios versus their runner systems? List your job on Glassdoor, and you’ll have applicants who have done research on you and the position. The best part? Honesty. Applicants who are applying already have some notion about your culture (positive or negative), which prevents mismatches. Glassdoor is speed dating with stringent background checks. A little scary, but effective.
SimplyHired does what it claims it makes hiring simple, that is. Think of it as the no-frills diner of job boards: straightforward menu, quick service, and no frills trimmings. Do you need CAD experts or injection mold engineers? Post the job, and the listing is syndicated to a massive associate network, spreading your opportunity like butter on bread. The UI doesn’t assault you with bells and whistles, though that’s really the idea. For frazzled managers who simply need the results and don’t have time to spend an hour messing around with filters, SimplyHired is the ticket. It’s basically the Cliff Notes of hiring.
Wellfound (formerly AngelList Talent) is kind of like a hip co-working space for startups with whiteboards on the walls, buckets of high-test coffee, and half-asleep prodigies. It’s built to match early-stage companies with talent that not only knows how to make things, but isn’t afraid to toss buzzwords out the window. Need to hire a CAD designer who enjoys startup chaos and can get injection mold production-ready? You’re there. The culture at this place is entrepreneurial, so you’ll have engineers who are just as excited about your idea as you are. It’s less suited, more “garber-turned-future-unicorn.” If your wavelength is gritty innovation rather than corporate world suits, Wellfound is pretty much your playground.
Hired is dating, but for designers and engineers who don’t just talk about it. No more swiping through a never-ending line of profiles, the talent approaches you, pre-screened and ready to go. Need a CAD designer who sleeps in extrusion profiles or a DfM engineer who can debate gate location like it’s haute art? Hired has your match. The model turns the script around so that you don’t catch candidates; they get paired up with you. It’s not so much fishing, but more like a personal chef serving dinner at your table. That is, Hired saves you from inbox chaos and delivers talent who’ve already marked off your dance card.
Jooble is the job aggregator that does it all like an overachieving librarian, scooping up listings all over and piling them in one massive heap for you to sort through. Searching for injection mold designers or CAD design experts here is like opening Pandora’s box, but with a good turn of events. It is not a real marketplace but a super search engine that saves you the hassle of typing “mold designer jobs” in fifty locations. You enter your search, and Jooble gathers results from the farthest corners of the web that you weren’t even aware of. It’s a treasure hunt with a very hyperactive tour guide who won’t leave anything behind.
Workana is the Latin American freelance gold rush, and it’s full of talent that’s a blend of engineering, creativity, and “let’s do this” attitude. Need a CAD designer who can also handle the emergency late-night calls that span time zones? Workana’s got a bunch of those. The culture here is community-minded and cooperative, so it’s not the same kind of corporate environment and is more “mission-collaborative.” Businesses relocate here when they need the top talent without reducing their wallet to ashes in the process, quicker than a busted injection mold. If you like working with handy, multi-skilled masters who infuse a dash of cultural flavor into their CAD wizardry, Workana is a gem.
Truelancer is the blue-collar smashup of freelance sites, blowing its “cheap but good” banner loudly. It’s not fancy branding and constant gatekeeping; it’s about connecting you with the good pros who actually get the work done. Need someone to edit your CAD files, design for DfM, or build a mold that won’t explode? You’re in luck. The site is huge in Asia but global in reach, and the rates can be very wallet-friendly. Truelancer is the hidden food stall in the Nutty Market. After having it, you’re thinking how you were overpaying elsewhere. Undercharged? Yes. Work getting done? Yes.
DesignRush is the glitzy talent directory magazine, filled with agencies and experts who make everything look a bit too perfect. It’s more high-end teams willing to come down and collaborate on big projects, not single freelancers. Need injection mold designers or CAD engineers who can work in parallel with branding, prototyping, and manufacturing experts? DesignRush makes it happen. It’s extremely “agency chic” in atmosphere, so be prepared for shiny portfolios and plenty of “wow” factor. It’s like hiring a design SWAT team, stylish, professional, and ready to turn your product into something you’d proudly show off at CES.
Clutch is Yelp for B2B, but with fewer food photos and more engineering companies eager to make your dreams a reality. No lone freelancers here, but agencies and studios that deal in CAD, product design services, and yes, injection molds too. The catch? Checked customer testimonials, so you’ll know whether that flashing five-star shop actually delivers or simply sports an amazing logo. If you want more than an individual freelancer can deliver, Clutch introduces you to teams war-tested in the process. Match-making, but with no star signs and astro-marked demeanor. Reliable, transparent, and steadfastly pleasant.
PeoplePerHour is your local coffee bar where freelancers set up shop with “hourlies,” bite-sized services à la carte. You require a CAD tweak, draft correction in a mold, or advice on a hastie DfM? Get it like an extra-foamy latte. Unlike the monolithic platforms, PeoplePerHour keeps it homely, where you can post a project or browse pre-bundled deals. The vibe is no-frills, gritty, and tenacious, perfect if you want results without all the corporate frippery. It’s not stacked with big agencies, yep, but if you need cheap, in-budget injection mold talent, PeoplePerHour serves it up hot, straight outta the box, and in a rush.
Fiverr is one of the biggest freelance platforms in the multiverse, but give it a break, it’s a grab bag. You can obtain from logo scribblers to voiceover artists for your cat, and yes, even the occasional CAD engineer. The exception? It’s not intended for injection molding or manufacturing in its sights, so it spans the full spectrum in terms of quality and experience. Fiverr is okay for quick, low-stakes work, but hiring out for something as specialized as mold design or DfM engineering on here is not recommended. Try buying engineering hardware at a dollar store, you might be able to, but the likelihood is your guess when accuracy is the name.
Upwork is gigantic, with millions of freelancers, thousands of categories, and so many profiles that it’ll make your head spin. And that’s great, but the sheer depth is its worst feature for such specialties as injection molding. You can outsource an engineer, yes, but you’re going to be wasting hours reviewing bids that overall come up short of the technical expertise you require. Upwork is perfect for boilerplate work, virtual assistants, copywriting, or general design, but is it suitable for specialist engineering or consumer product design services? It’s a haystack, and you’re looking for an incredibly, incredibly tiny needle. With CAD and DfM, you need platforms dedicated to engineering accuracy.
Freelancer casts the broadest net of all into freelancing, matching business to skill in all kinds of activity. The hitch? That net is much too wide if you’re searching for something as niche as injection mold design. You’ll likely be deluged with bids many of which are generalists and not the extensive manufacturing know-how you actually need. It’s more of a bidding circus than a specialized solution to contracting. Freelancer is fine for generic projects, but when the work involves technical expertise, exact CAD modeling, and mold-specific knowledge, this is where not to bet the farm. Bottom line: go elsewhere for serious engineering help.
When it comes to finding injection mold designers and CAD DfM engineers, the internet is overflowing with platforms promising “the best talent.” Some deliver, some feel like rummaging through a thrift store, and some are better left for general gigs. But if you’re serious about getting parts designed right the first time, Cad Crowd sits in a league of its own. As opposed to the shotgun marketplaces, Cad Crowd only wants proven, manufacturer-oriented professionals who get tooling, draft angles, and production realities. Bottom line? Stay away from the noise. For injection molding experience that actually works for production, Cad Crowd is hands-down #1. Get a free quote today.
MacKenzie Brown is the founder and CEO of Cad Crowd. With over 18 years of experience in launching and scaling platforms specializing in CAD services, product design, manufacturing, hardware, and software development, MacKenzie is a recognized authority in the engineering industry. Under his leadership, Cad Crowd serves esteemed clients like NASA, JPL, the U.S. Navy, and Fortune 500 companies, empowering innovators with access to high-quality design and engineering talent.
A pro-Russian hacker group has come forward as the perpetrator of a DDoS attack on the French national postal service La Poste that took place on December 22, according to . The distributed denial-of-service attack took central computer systems at La Poste entirely offline and caused major disruptions in package deliveries just days before Christmas.
reported that the cyberattack on La Poste was still not fully resolved as of Wednesday morning. While regular letters were not affected, postal workers were unable to track packages and online payments through La Banque Postale, the service’s banking division, were also disrupted.
The group, known as Noname057, has taken responsibility for or been accused of cyberattacks across the globe. Though attacks have occurred in over a dozen nations, the group has mostly targeted Ukraine as well as nations.
Europol, the EU’s law enforcement agency, launched an against the group this summer. The US Justice Department has also been involved in the hacker group.
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The YoloBox Extreme stands as a flagship all-in-one live production powerhouse, supporting up to 8 HDMI inputs, dual assignable HDMI outputs, 4K streaming and ISO recording, and advanced features like multicam replay and network bonding. Its bright 11.2-inch OLED touchscreen, Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, and long battery life enable solo operators or teams to handle complex productions with ease, from events to broadcasts, delivering unmatched portability and performance in live streaming.
Atomos expands its Ninja lineup with the Ninja TX and TX Go monitor-recorders, bringing ProRes RAW recording, camera control, and cloud connectivity to filmmakers. The TX Go offers HDMI-only versatility with up to 6Kp30 RAW, while the full TX adds SDI and higher resolutions. With brighter screens, professional monitoring tools, and seamless integration for cameras from Canon, Fujifilm, and more, these devices elevate on-set workflows with precise control and high-quality capture.
BirdDog’s new KBD controller paired with multicam bundles featuring X Series PTZ cameras revolutionizes NDI-based production. The ergonomic KBD includes a large display for multi-camera previews, integrated tally, and effortless settings sync. Bundles with models like X1 or X1 30X for HD workflows and X1 Ultra and above provide complete systems for UHD workflows, with AI tracking and precise control, perfect for live events, studios, and installations demanding reliable, intuitive operation.
Vizrt’s 2025 TriCaster bundles, including the TriCaster Mini X with Mini Control Surface and higher-end models with Flex Control Panels, offer professional live production in compact, powerful packages. These special promotions combine intuitive hardware controls with TriCaster’s renowned switching, graphics, and NDI capabilities, enabling creators to deliver broadcast-quality results from anywhere with enhanced tactile operation and streamlined workflows.
The SanDisk Creator Series introduces a vibrant lineup of storage solutions tailored for content creators, including high-speed SSDs, microSD cards, and USB drives with capacities up to multi-terabyte levels. Designed for demanding workflows like 4K/6K editing and mobile capture, these rugged, fast-transfer devices ensure reliable backups, offloads, and expansions, empowering creators to focus on their vision without storage limitations.
The Kiloview N60 bi-directional 4K converter gains full NDI 6 compatibility, enhancing ultra-low latency, HDR support, 10 Bit Color, and NDI Bridge for remote production capabilities. Supporting high-bandwidth NDI, NDI|HX, and protocols like SRT, this versatile device excels in encoding/decoding UHD video with professional color depth, making it a go-to for broadcast, live events, and IP-based workflows requiring seamless integration and superior performance.
The Turtle TAV-D2USB Dante Dual-Channel USB-C I/O Adapter bridges USB audio and Dante networks effortlessly, offering bi-directional conversion for professional AV setups. With high-resolution support, configurable delays, and PoE powering, this compact, eco-friendly device ensures jitter-free integration in installations like conferences, live sound, and broadcast, simplifying connectivity in Dante ecosystems.
NETGEAR Engage Controller provides robust central management for AV switches, Pro Routers, and WiFi 7 Access Points in AV-over-IP networks. With certified profiles for protocols like NDI, Dante, and Q-SYS, automated features, and a unified interface for configuration and monitoring, it simplifies complex deployments, ensuring reliable, efficient operation for integrators and professionals.
It is possible to use Visual Studio 2026 Build Tools (MSBuild 18 / MSVC v145) on GitHub-hosted Windows runners, even though they are not preinstalled.
GitHub-hosted Windows runners include Chocolatey out of the box, which allows you to install additional toolchains at runtime during the workflow.
Using Chocolatey, you can install Visual Studio 2026 Build Tools side-by-side with the preinstalled Visual Studio 2022 Build Tools (MSBuild 17 / MSVC v143).
In a GitHub Actions workflow YAML file (for example, .github/workflows/static_code_analisys.yml), you can install Visual Studio 2026 Build Tools & configure configure it explicitly:
Fortunately, for command-line C++ builds, the compiler and MSBuild are usable immediately after installation. Using --ignore-package-exit-codes=3010 allows the pipeline to continue safely without sacrificing correctness.
Configure & Build
To ensure the VS 2026 toolchain is used (and not the preinstalled VS 2022 tools), explicitly initialize the environment from the VS 2026 installation:
The Trump administration has issued travel bans that prohibit five European tech researchers, including one former EU Commissioner, from entering the United States. “For far too long, ideologues in Europe have led organized efforts to coerce American platforms to punish American viewpoints they oppose. The Trump Administration will no longer tolerate these egregious acts of extraterritorial censorship,” said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
That official is Thierry Breton, the former European Commissioner for Internal Markets and Digital Services, who Sarah Rogers called the “mastermind” of the Digital Services Act. Rogers, the Under Secretary of State, said Breton threatened Elon Musk about ongoing formal proceedings for X’s noncompliance with “illegal content” and “disinformation” under the DSA just before his meeting with President Trump. The administration has also banned Imran Ahmed from the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), who apparently called for American anti-vaxxers to be deplatformed. One of those people is Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who’s now the US Secretary of Health.
Clare Melford from the UK-based Global Disinformation Index has also been banned. Her group monitors online platforms for hate speech. Anna-Lena von Hodenberg and Josephine Ballon from German organization HateAid, have been banned, as well. HateAid flags hate speech online for the EU under DSA rules.
As The New York Times notes, these travel bans emphasize the administration’s close relationship with internet and tech companies, which would benefit from having DSA rules loosened or abolished. The Global Disinformation Index called the travel bans “an authoritarian attack on free speech and an egregious act of government censorship.” Meanwhile, von Hodenberg and Ballon said the bans mark a new escalation. “The US government is clearly questioning European sovereignty,” they said.
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As we near the end of the year and the holidays are quickly approaching, people are spending the remainder of their vacation days, kids are out of school, and college students are coming back home to see friends and family. It is also a great time to meet up and reconnect with those faces you may not have seen in a while, or just time to unwind and relax. Either way, games are a great way to spend newfound time off, and luckily, 2025 saw the release of some wonderful titles that can appeal to whatever sort of gaming relaxation you are looking for.
Whether you’re looking for a game to boot up at a party or something to put on and escape into as a blizzard rages outside, here are 10 games that are great to check out this holiday.
Google is toning down the visual appearances of Remix in Messages.
The banana emoji, used to denote Nano Banana, is being removed from Remix in Google Messages buttons.
The change comes after users complained about Remix, prompting Google to respond earlier this month.
Nano Banana is Google’s premier image-generation model, and it powers features across the Google ecosystem in apps like Gemini, NotebookLM, and recently, Google Messages. With the new Remix feature in Google Messages, users can find Nano Banana image editing and generation features right in their conversations. Although the feature is opt-in, Remix in Google Messages is publicly displayed throughout the app, complete with a banana emoji signifying Nano Banana.
After the Remix in Google Messages feature launched in November, it was not received well by Android fans, with many criticizing Remix on Reddit. By December 2025, Google responded to the criticism in a support post.
“Thank you for sharing your feedback about the Remix feature in Messages. We hear you,” wrote a Google community manager in the post. Our team is actively working on improvements and refining the feature to make it smoother, more user-friendly, and enjoyable for everyone. Stay tuned for updates!”
Now, Google is toning down the look of Remix in version 20251212_00_RC01 of the Google Messages app beta, according to 9to5Google. After opening an image in full-screen view, the pill-shaped Remix button with a banana emoji is now completely removed. Instead, there’s a general circle button for Remix that lives next to the reaction and comment buttons in Messages. This circular button has a sparkle emoji, instead of a banana emoji, to denote the AI-powered features.
The old button for Remix in Google Messages (left) beside the new button (right), as reported by 9to5Google. (Image credit: 9to5Google)
Holding down an image in a Google Messages conversation still reveals a pill-shaped Remix icon, but it’s smaller. Additionally, the banana emoji is replaced with an image icon featuring an AI sparkle. The Remix in Messages feature still works as expected, but the visual cues are less busy with the redesigned buttons.
It remains to be seen whether Google Messages users will appreciate the redesigned Remix interface. Critics of the feature complained that there is no way to disable Remix in Messages completely, and this visual change doesn’t address that part of the issue. For now, Google Messages users will be saying goodbye to the Nano Banana emoji.
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